Combat Compassion Fatigue ToolKit

Description

Working in the animal welfare community has so many benefits―we get to help animals receive the health care they need, help find them new homes, remove them from abusive situations, live better lives, and so much more. But all that compassion takes its toll, resulting in compassion fatigue.

Compassion fatigue is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as:

“The physical and mental exhaustion and emotional withdrawal experienced by those who care for sick or traumatized people over an extended period of time.”

Dr. Charles Figley, world-renowned trauma expert and pioneer researcher in the field of helper burnout, describes compassion fatigue as the cost of caring for others in emotional and physical pain, causing pronounced change in the ‘helper’s’ ability to feel empathy.
In animal welfare, compassion fatigue is an occupational hazard, which means nearly everyone who cares about the animals will eventually develop this syndrome to a varying degree of severity.

Recognizing your symptoms can help you act before things get worse!

Here you’ll find practical daily tools to put into action. The Combat Compassion Fatigue Toolkit offers you techniques for combatting compassion fatigue.

You’ll learn:

What is compassion fatigue
What are the symptoms
What is self-care
How do I create my own self-care
✓ Break the momentum of overwhelm and sensory overload
✓ Heal the impulse to “over-help”
✓ Live a more open-hearted life without experiencing compassion fatigue burnout
✓ Set healthy boundaries

This toolkit includes:
1. The Professional Quality of Life/Compassion Satisfaction and Fatigue Test, developed through the Humane Society of the United States
2. How to use your journal for healing
a. With 50+ journaling prompts
3. Mindfulness for stress and exercises
a. A link to the video 3-Minute Breathing Space, that teaches you a simple yet wonderful mindfulness exercise that can be practiced anywhere

34 Pages